It was a surprise to me also, and I had purchased the Book! I was using Fusion 360 but as I noted elsewhere on here it was slow as it requires internet access and then the constant updates. I found this ViaCAD 2D/3D V10 and it was easy to use and not very expensive, see my "other" post on here. I do not need to spend $1,000's to just create for my M2. Oh and it installed on my MacBook Pro also and the license seems to cover both. Great documentation unlike Fusion 360 where you need to either watch a Video or go online to the User Forum and search and ask questions... which I hated. What a time waster for a simple question that can be looked up in the 400 pages of documentation with ViaCAD in a minute or two.

wmgeorge wrote:It was a surprise to me also, and I had purchased the Book! I was using Fusion 360 but as I noted elsewhere on here it was slow as it requires internet access and then the constant updates. I found this ViaCAD 2D/3D V10 and it was easy to use and not very expensive, see my "other" post on here. I do not need to spend $1,000's to just create for my M2. Oh and it installed on my MacBook Pro also and the license seems to cover both. Great documentation unlike Fusion 360 where you need to either watch a Video or go online to the User Forum and search and ask questions... which I hated. What a time waster for a simple question that can be looked up in the 400 pages of documentation with ViaCAD in a minute or two.

Fusion 360 actually doesn't require an internet connection to be used, simply for the cloud functionality like using the stress modelling. I like the many updates as I can see progress being made every time. I wont argue that its not the easiest of apps to get a handle on , but no real CAD software is what I would call user friendly.

wmgeorge wrote:It was a surprise to me also, and I had purchased the Book! I was using Fusion 360 but as I noted elsewhere on here it was slow as it requires internet access and then the constant updates. I found this ViaCAD 2D/3D V10 and it was easy to use and not very expensive, see my "other" post on here. I do not need to spend $1,000's to just create for my M2. Oh and it installed on my MacBook Pro also and the license seems to cover both. Great documentation unlike Fusion 360 where you need to either watch a Video or go online to the User Forum and search and ask questions... which I hated. What a time waster for a simple question that can be looked up in the 400 pages of documentation with ViaCAD in a minute or two.

Fusion 360 actually doesn't require an internet connection to be used, simply for the cloud functionality like using the stress modelling. I like the many updates as I can see progress being made every time. I wont argue that its not the easiest of apps to get a handle on , but no real CAD software is what I would call user friendly.

Well for making 3D designs for printing you sure do not need stress analyzing and all those engineering functions. This is a less than $300 program ($130 for just the basic 3D) that does not require internet access and does come with documentation. What more could you want for 3D printing? Fusion 360 does need internet access to "call home" once in a while and if you live in a major city with fast internet, no issues. FYI ViaCAD runs at least 2x faster than Fusion 360

Last edited by wmgeorge on Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

wmgeorge wrote:It was a surprise to me also, and I had purchased the Book! I was using Fusion 360 but as I noted elsewhere on here it was slow as it requires internet access and then the constant updates. I found this ViaCAD 2D/3D V10 and it was easy to use and not very expensive, see my "other" post on here. I do not need to spend $1,000's to just create for my M2. Oh and it installed on my MacBook Pro also and the license seems to cover both. Great documentation unlike Fusion 360 where you need to either watch a Video or go online to the User Forum and search and ask questions... which I hated. What a time waster for a simple question that can be looked up in the 400 pages of documentation with ViaCAD in a minute or two.

Fusion 360 actually doesn't require an internet connection to be used, simply for the cloud functionality like using the stress modelling. I like the many updates as I can see progress being made every time. I wont argue that its not the easiest of apps to get a handle on , but no real CAD software is what I would call user friendly.

Well for making 3D designs for printing you sure do not need stress analyzing and all those engineering functions. This is a less than $300 program ($130 for just the basic 3D) that does not require internet access and does come with documentation. What more could you want for 3D printing? Fusion 360 does need internet access to "call home" once in a while and if you live in a major city with fast internet, no issues.

Um I use the analysis functionality all the time, Whether it be to test the airflow through a new fan cowl or figure out if a joint I am designing can handle being used repeatedly. I guess each to their own but I find the functionality in fusion 360 great and once I got a handle on it easy to use. I wont say that every now and then I wont go looking for how to do something, but over the past year Autodesk have started putting up instructional videos for darn near everything to do with F360. Each video is about 5 minutes long and focuses on a specific task/topic.
I am glad you have found a good alternative. It sounds like your ISP needs a swift kick in the happy sack.